Call answering for small businesses: what it costs and what you get
If you run a small business, every missed call is a lost job or booking. This guide compares the ways to get your calls answered, from voicemail to a person to an AI receptionist, with what each costs and what to check before you sign up.
The short answer
For most small businesses the choice is between a human answering service, charged per call or per minute, and an AI receptionist on a flat monthly price. A person takes a good message. An AI receptionist answers every call at once, books jobs into your diary and costs the same however busy you get.
Your options compared
Voicemail
Free, but many callers hang up rather than leave a message, and every message waits until you are free to call back.
A family member or colleague
No cost on paper, but it takes them away from their own work, and the cover stops when they do.
Human answering service
A person answers in your name and takes a message, usually charged per call or per minute. Published UK guides put these at about £50 to £200 or more a month.
AI receptionist
Answers instantly, day and night, books into your diary and captures every caller. OptiFlow Lite is £49 a month with unlimited calls.
What to check before you sign up
The real price
Per call or per minute, what counts as a call, and what happens when you go over a bundle.
Hours covered
Evenings, weekends and bank holidays, or office hours only.
Booking
Straight into your diary, or a message you still have to act on.
Urgent calls
How an emergency reaches you, and how fast.
Contract
Monthly rolling or a fixed term, and the notice to leave.
Your number
You should keep your number and simply forward calls to the service.
The cheap option is not always cheap
The plan that looks cheapest is often priced per call, so a busy week sends the bill up. Work it out from the calls you miss instead. If one missed job is worth £150, catching a single extra job a month covers most answering plans several times over.
How OptiFlow Lite works for small businesses
Lite answers every call in your business name, answers common questions, books appointments into your diary and captures every name and number, 24 hours a day. It is £49 a month with unlimited calls. You forward your number when you are busy or closed, and keep your existing number and handsets.
Questions people ask
What is the cheapest call answering service for a small business?
Voicemail is free but loses callers. For a paid service, per call plans look cheapest at very low volumes, while a flat monthly price wins once you get more than a handful of calls. Our pay as you go guide shows the break even.
Is a virtual receptionist the same as a call answering service?
Broadly, yes. A virtual receptionist usually means a remote person or an AI answering in your business name, while some call answering services only take messages.
Can it book appointments?
An AI receptionist like OptiFlow Lite books straight into your diary. Many human answering services take a message instead, so check before you sign up.
Do I need any special equipment?
No. You forward your existing number, mobile or landline, and keep your handsets.
Get every call answered
Book a demo and hear it answer the calls your business actually gets.
Related reading: Call answering service, Virtual receptionist for small business, Pay as you go call answering, How much does an AI receptionist cost.